Top 1 percent of Americans possess more wealth than the entire bottom 90 percent

[PredFan]

The 400 wealthiest Americans have a greater combined net worth than the bottom 150 million Americans.

The top 1 percent of Americans possess more wealth than the entire bottom 90 percent.

In the Bush expansion from 2002 to 2007, 65 percent of economic gains went to the richest 1 percent.

More broadly, there’s a growing sense that lopsided outcomes are a result of tycoons’ manipulating the system, lobbying for loopholes and getting away with murder. Of the 100 highest-paid chief executives in the United States in 2010, 25 took home more pay than their company paid in federal corporate income taxes, according to the Institute for Policy Studies.

Living under Communism in China made me a fervent enthusiast of capitalism. I believe that over the last couple of centuries banks have enormously raised living standards in the West by allocating capital to more efficient uses. But anyone who believes in markets should be outraged that banks rig the system so that they enjoy profits in good years and bailouts in bad years.

The banks have gotten away with privatizing profits and socializing risks, and that’s just another form of bank robbery.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/opinion/sunday/kristof-americas-primal-scream.html

----------------

He goes on to cite studies that show "income inequality" keeps the economy from growing. Well, these are simply common sense. Democrats on this board, including me, have been pointing this out for the last few months. The Republicans here keep saying, "Oh, it's because you're lazy and don't know how to work". What a bunch of fools.

With huge income inequality, you have a lack of demand. That means "no jobs". And look at the AVERAGE Wall Street Job. Well over $300,000.00 a year for producing NOTHING. Just moving money around. Could you imagine if we followed Republicans idea of throwing our money into the stock market? Of all the crazy, insane schemes.

How many USMB Republicans are sleeping in a bag in the living room of mom's double wide, out of work, who are calling the left, "Lazy, no good communist bums?"

With this type of income inequality, there is no "Hard work and you can succeed". Because there are no jobs. No way to pay off those loans. Income inequality sucks the life out of the economy. How many of those guys did it, NOT with hard work, but with bought politicians?

Good for them. They earned it.

 

[Listening]

And my question is so what ?

The article gives no historical context.

I am willing to listen, but there needs to be a good argument to listen to.

How much wealth did the top 1% hold in 1950 and 1960 ?

And while he cites the growth of the salary of the Wall Streeters he does nothing by comparison to the average guy. Are we losing ground ? Again, no data, no statistics...no argument.

I am not a fan of the wealth accumulation in this country.

But mostly, what I see is that government and big business are in bed together. I certainly hope RDean does not expect the Obama Administration to do anything about this. They continue to stroke big business with their grants and regulations in way that is detrimental to the rest of us.

Hows the hope and change working out for us anyway.

I saw Bill O'Reily and Lou Dobbs championing OWS the other day. I'll be that blew some circuit breakers.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

100-1=99, not 90.

That's because the top 1% don't own more than the entire 99% of the rest of the country. Only the bottom 90%. 9%, obviously, were left out.

This is what is wrong with Republicans. For one, they don't know how to read. Second, what ever it is they do read, they imagine it to be something else.

I rarely read at your level, dweebie.

Too-many big-words, huh?

Yeah.....I'd expected as much.

 

[MeBelle]

100-1=99, not 90.

That's because the top 1% don't own more than the entire 99% of the rest of the country. Only the bottom 90%. 9%, obviously, were left out.

This is what is wrong with Republicans. For one, they don't know how to read. Second, what ever it is they do read, they imagine it to be something else.

Do you even read the links that you post?
The 9% WERE included.
Where have I ever claimed I was a Republican?

 

[Si modo]

I just adore, ADORE, deanie-do!

 

[Katzndogz]

The top 1% is supporting how much of the bottom 90%?

Why don't you read the article. Owning something doesn't always mean you are supporting someone.

You could spend a few minutes "learning" something new. Or not. I suspect not.

Learning something new? Like the parasites should do my thinking for me? Is that the new you think I should learn.

The very richest Americans are supporting more than their fair share. They may own a lot, but each asset of ownership brings a responsibility to support more parasites and layabouts.

 

[peach174]

The top 1% give back a lot of their wealth to charities.
Bill gates gives more than half of his wealth to all kinds of charities each and every year.
If Cain gets elected his 999 plan will get rid the lobbying for loopholes, GE will have to pay their taxes under his plan. 9% is better than 0%.

 

[Claudette]

They may hold the wealth but they also pay the majority of the Fed taxes.

Wish there were more of em.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

The top 1% is supporting how much of the bottom 90%?

Why don't you read the article. Owning something doesn't always mean you are supporting someone.

You could spend a few minutes "learning" something new. Or not. I suspect not.

Learning something new? Like the parasites should do my thinking for me? Is that the new you think I should learn.

The very richest Americans are supporting more than their fair share. They may own a lot, but each asset of ownership brings a responsibility to support more parasites and layabouts.

.....i.e.....

....VOTES!!!!!!

.

.

.

 

[Chris]

Let's start with the obvious: Unemployment. Three years after the financial crisis, the unemployment rate is still at the highest level since the Great Depression (except for a brief blip in the early 1980s)

Corporate profits just hit another all-time high.

Corporate profits as a percent of the economy are near a record all-time high. With the exception of a brief happy period in 2007 (just before the crash), profits are higher than they've been since the 1950s. And they are VASTLY higher than they've been for most of the intervening half-century.

CEO pay is now 350X the average worker's, up from 50X from 1960-1985.

CEO pay has skyrocketed 300% since 1990. Corporate profits have doubled. Average "production worker" pay has increased 4%. The minimum wage has dropped. (All numbers adjusted for inflation).

After adjusting for inflation, average hourly earnings haven't increased in 50 years.

In short... while CEOs and shareholders have been cashing in, wages as a percent of the economy have dropped to an all-time low.

In other words, in the struggle between "labor" and "capital," capital has basically won.

Of course, life is great if you're in the top 1% of American wage earners. You're hauling in a bigger percentage of the country's total pre-tax income than you have at any time since the late 1920s. Your share of the national income, in fact, is almost 2X the long-term average!

In fact, income inequality has gotten so extreme here that the US now ranks 93rd in the world in "income equality." China's ahead of us. So is India. So is Iran.

And, by the way, few people would have a problem with inequality if the American Dream were still fully intact—if it were easy to work your way into that top 1%. But, unfortunately, social mobility in this country is also near an all-time low.

So what does all this mean in terms of net worth? Well, for starters, it means that the top 1% of Americans own 42% of the financial wealth in this country. The top 5%, meanwhile, own nearly 70%.

And remember that huge debt problem we have—with hundreds of millions of Americans indebted up to their eyeballs? Well, the top 1% doesn't have that problem. They only own 5% of the country's debt.

And then there are taxes... It's a great time to make a boatload of money in America, because taxes on the nation's highest-earners are close to the lowest they've ever been.

 

[Dot Com]

economic inequality/widening wealth gap to depression- era levels is considered "progress" according to the Randites/conservatives on the board
Storming the Capitalist Castle - Yahoo! Finance

"We Are the 99 Percent" effectively publicizes a message consistent with research on the distribution of income and wealth: the top 1 percent of households in the United States represents an economic aristocracy.

Over the last 30 years, it has consolidated and amplified its privileged position, making strategic political investments in policies ranging from financial deregulation to cuts in top marginal tax rates.

It took home 21 percent of the nation's pretax income in 2008, up from 9 percent in 1976. It controlled 36 percent of the nation's private wealth in 2009.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

life's unfair.

keep it under your hat.

Ya' heard about that, huh??

Tax Cut$:
$11.6 Million Every Hour

 

[rdean]

Let's start with the obvious: Unemployment. Three years after the financial crisis, the unemployment rate is still at the highest level since the Great Depression (except for a brief blip in the early 1980s)

Corporate profits just hit another all-time high.

Corporate profits as a percent of the economy are near a record all-time high. With the exception of a brief happy period in 2007 (just before the crash), profits are higher than they've been since the 1950s. And they are VASTLY higher than they've been for most of the intervening half-century.

CEO pay is now 350X the average worker's, up from 50X from 1960-1985.

CEO pay has skyrocketed 300% since 1990. Corporate profits have doubled. Average "production worker" pay has increased 4%. The minimum wage has dropped. (All numbers adjusted for inflation).

After adjusting for inflation, average hourly earnings haven't increased in 50 years.

In short... while CEOs and shareholders have been cashing in, wages as a percent of the economy have dropped to an all-time low.

In other words, in the struggle between "labor" and "capital," capital has basically won.

Of course, life is great if you're in the top 1% of American wage earners. You're hauling in a bigger percentage of the country's total pre-tax income than you have at any time since the late 1920s. Your share of the national income, in fact, is almost 2X the long-term average!

In fact, income inequality has gotten so extreme here that the US now ranks 93rd in the world in "income equality." China's ahead of us. So is India. So is Iran.

And, by the way, few people would have a problem with inequality if the American Dream were still fully intact—if it were easy to work your way into that top 1%. But, unfortunately, social mobility in this country is also near an all-time low.

So what does all this mean in terms of net worth? Well, for starters, it means that the top 1% of Americans own 42% of the financial wealth in this country. The top 5%, meanwhile, own nearly 70%.

And remember that huge debt problem we have—with hundreds of millions of Americans indebted up to their eyeballs? Well, the top 1% doesn't have that problem. They only own 5% of the country's debt.

And then there are taxes... It's a great time to make a boatload of money in America, because taxes on the nation's highest-earners are close to the lowest they've ever been.

Finally, someone who actually sounds sane.

I couldn't believe someone said "Good for them, they EARNED it". When you have the country ripped off so badly, the economy spins into a deep recession and no one goes to jail, how can you have people saying "Good for them, they EARNED it"? And these "drill baby drill" slogans. They're back? Again?

It's these uneducated Republicans who are really suffering. But they skip and clap and gleefully run towards the cliff chanting, "It's all about hard work". The cliff in front, getting screwed in back. And happily singing, "Give me more".

I don't get it. I really don't.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

I worked for a top 1% Forbes 400 guy before he ever got anywhere near the List and the one major difference between you, me and him is that he ALWAYS believed he'd make it.

 

[rdean]

100-1=99, not 90.

That's because the top 1% don't own more than the entire 99% of the rest of the country. Only the bottom 90%. 9%, obviously, were left out.

This is what is wrong with Republicans. For one, they don't know how to read. Second, what ever it is they do read, they imagine it to be something else.

Do you even read the links that you post?
The 9% WERE included.
Where have I ever claimed I was a Republican?

The top 1 percent of Americans possess more wealth than the entire bottom 90 percent.


Read it again. Try reading out loud. Maybe that will help.

 

[rdean]

I worked for a top 1% Forbes 400 guy before he ever got anywhere near the List and the one major difference between you, me and him is that he ALWAYS believed he'd make it.

Make what?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Let's start with the obvious: Unemployment. Three years after the financial crisis, the unemployment rate is still at the highest level since the Great Depression (except for a brief blip in the early 1980s)

Corporate profits just hit another all-time high.

Corporate profits as a percent of the economy are near a record all-time high. With the exception of a brief happy period in 2007 (just before the crash), profits are higher than they've been since the 1950s. And they are VASTLY higher than they've been for most of the intervening half-century.

CEO pay is now 350X the average worker's, up from 50X from 1960-1985.

CEO pay has skyrocketed 300% since 1990. Corporate profits have doubled. Average "production worker" pay has increased 4%. The minimum wage has dropped. (All numbers adjusted for inflation).

After adjusting for inflation, average hourly earnings haven't increased in 50 years.

In short... while CEOs and shareholders have been cashing in, wages as a percent of the economy have dropped to an all-time low.

In other words, in the struggle between "labor" and "capital," capital has basically won.

Of course, life is great if you're in the top 1% of American wage earners. You're hauling in a bigger percentage of the country's total pre-tax income than you have at any time since the late 1920s. Your share of the national income, in fact, is almost 2X the long-term average!

In fact, income inequality has gotten so extreme here that the US now ranks 93rd in the world in "income equality." China's ahead of us. So is India. So is Iran.

And, by the way, few people would have a problem with inequality if the American Dream were still fully intact—if it were easy to work your way into that top 1%. But, unfortunately, social mobility in this country is also near an all-time low.

So what does all this mean in terms of net worth? Well, for starters, it means that the top 1% of Americans own 42% of the financial wealth in this country. The top 5%, meanwhile, own nearly 70%.

And remember that huge debt problem we have—with hundreds of millions of Americans indebted up to their eyeballs? Well, the top 1% doesn't have that problem. They only own 5% of the country's debt.

And then there are taxes... It's a great time to make a boatload of money in America, because taxes on the nation's highest-earners are close to the lowest they've ever been.

Do you know what a CEO does?

Do you even know what the letters stand for?

 

[NYcarbineer]

You wrote
"The top 1 percent of Americans possess more wealth than the entire bottom 90 percent."

So let's see.. 100% minus 1 percent equals 99% right?
And if they possess more then 90% of the Bottom, what % has the other 9%?
In other words so it won't go over your head..
If 1% control more then the 90% control, what happened to the 9%?

90% is the point above which those people's total wealth would equal the top 1%.

It's called mathematics. They teach it in school.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

I worked for a top 1% Forbes 400 guy before he ever got anywhere near the List and the one major difference between you, me and him is that he ALWAYS believed he'd make it.

Make what?

Make it on the Forbes list, be a great American success; was that not clear from the one sentence?

 

[NYcarbineer]

This is what conservatives want, because it reflects free market capitalism working the way it's supposed to.